My heart stuttered once more. Now or never.
The door exploded inward.
I forced my body up off the floor—trembling, shaking, weak, so fucking weak—and struck.
The letter opener drove into his throat, just beside his windpipe.
Blood sprayed across his suit. He staggered back, one hand clutching his neck, the other holding the gun up, pointing it at me.
He staggered, the gun swinging wild.
Toward me.
“You little bitch—” he choked out, finger tightening on the trigger.
Cole moved, fast and desperate, throwing himself atTristan, who I didn’t even see come in the room. “Give it to me!”
He ripped the gun from Tristan’s hands and spun.
The first shot caught Carter in the chest, the second in the shoulder. The third, fourth, fifth—Cole kept firing until the slide locked back, empty, and his father’s body crumpled to the expensive carpet.
Silence.
My heart gave one final, broken click, and the world tilted sideways, city lights blurring into streaks of cold fire.
Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. Familiar cologne wrapped around me—cedar and snow and safety. Alek.
“Malyshka, my love,” His voice seemed very far away, like he was calling from across a vast distance. “Stay with me.”
I tried, god, how I tried, but the darkness was stronger, pulling me under with each faltering heartbeat. The pain finally began to fade, replaced by a strange, floating sensation.
“Don’t you dare,” Alek’s voice broke. “Don’t you dare fucking leave us.”
Peace beckoned. I was so tired. And it didn’t hurt anymore.
59
ALEKSANDR
Eva’s pulsefluttered beneath my fingers—weak, erratic, each beat a desperate struggle against the failing valve.Fuck.I pressed two fingers against her carotid, counting the irregular beats. Too slow. Too weak. “Get the car. Now!”
Dmitri’s men secured Carter’s office while two of them dealt with the body. Cole’s face was pale, and his entire body shook. Fuck, this wasn’t what I wanted for him, for Tristan, for any of them.
He stared at his father’s body with unseeing eyes before they fell to me, to where I held our girl. I shifted Eva carefully, supporting her head, keeping her as still as possible. Every movement could strain her failing heart further.
“Get Dr. Kouassi from Yorkfield Memorial.” I eased Eva’s limp form against my chest. “He handled her last cardiac episode.”
Dmitri was already on the phone. “Dr. Kouassi will be waiting,” he confirmed. “His team is prepping the OR.”
The elevator ride felt endless. Eva’s skin grew colder with each floor we descended, her breathing shallow andlabored. Her heartbeat grew more irregular—a broken metronome counting down the moments we had left.
“Stay with me, malyshka.” I pressed my lips to her temple. “You don’t get to die for us. Not like this.”
The private garage level was empty except for the six black SUVs lined up and looking like the criminal enterprise we were.
When Cole and Tristan moved to climb into the car with us, Dmitri held up his hand. “My men will take you to shower and change then take you to the hospital. We’ll clean up the evidence upstairs, but you two need to look like you spent the evening making out and not committing murder.”
“And call her father,” I added as I settled into the back seat with Eva, keeping her head elevated against my chest. “He needs to be there when—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.When she wakes up.
